3 Taliban militants killed in Afghan raids

Three Taliban militants have been killed and nine others detained in different operations across Afghanistan within the last 24 hours, the country's Interior Ministry said Tuesday.

"Afghan National Police (ANP) supporting by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces launched eight joint cleanup operations in Faryab, Badakhshan, Balkh, Kandahar, Zabul, Logar, Ghazni and Helmand provinces, killing three armed Taliban insurgents and detaining nine other suspects over the past 24 hours," the ministry said in a statement.

The ANP also found and seized weapons, the statement said, without saying if there were any casualties on the side of security forces.

Taliban has yet to make comments.

The Afghan forces and some 100,000 NATO-led coalition troops have intensified cleanup operations against Taliban and other militants throughout the country recently but the insurgents in retaliation responded by carrying out suicide attacks and roadside bombings especially in southern and eastern parts of the country.

On Sunday, three members of Afghan security forces and two civilians were killed and several others including several coalition soldiers were wounded when Taliban carried out a coordinated suicide attack against an Afghan-NATO base in eastern Nangarhar province in the attack that also left nine militants dead.